At the just-concluded Beijing Winter Olympics, the Chinese sports delegation created the best result in the history of the Winter Olympic Games. The moment when Chinese ice and snow athletes broke through the limits and bloomed in this top ice and snow feast made us excited, among which the National Alpine Ski Center "Xuefeiyan" in Yanqing Division witnessed the brave people of Chinese alpine skiing who are not afraid of challenges, break through themselves, and work hard.
Fearless of challenges to break through yourself
Before the Beijing Winter Olympics, the Chinese team participated in the alpine skiing competition of the 6 Winter Olympic Games, relying on 1 place for men and 1 female allocated by the International Snow Federation, and the participating projects were mainly technical projects such as slalom and big slalom, and the competition results were relatively backward. The Chinese team at the Beijing Winter Olympics sent four athletes, Named Zhang Yangming, Xu Mingfu, Kong Fanying and Ni Yueming, to participate in the alpine skiing competition, setting a record in terms of quotas. In the small events, the Chinese team also achieved a breakthrough, the Chinese alpine ski team successfully "unlocked" the Beijing Winter Olympics alpine skiing all 11 sub-events of the qualification, of which the men's and women's downhill, all-around and men's super big slalom and mixed teams are the first time to participate.
Standing on the alpine skiing speed event of the Winter Olympics is already a victory, but the Chinese alpine skiers who dare to fight have spelled out their style and results in the arena. On February 7, Xu Mingfu successfully completed the men's alpine downhill event with a time of 1:56.93, which was also the first time that a Chinese athlete had completed the alpine skiing and downhill event at the Winter Olympics. The moment Xu Mingfu crossed the finish line, the Alpine Ski Racing Arena of the Winter Olympics had the achievements of Chinese athletes.
The difficult and fastest downhill field, for the top alpine skiers, the completion is a threshold, the first time to stand on the Winter Olympic field Xu Mingfu resisted the pressure to complete the race smoothly, he carried not only the technical test, but also the huge psychological pressure. Xu Mingfu's outstanding performance also impressed IOC President Bach, who gave Xu Mingfu a limited-edition Olympic commemorative watch with a signature as a signed encouragement. "In less than two minutes of racing time, it is a great test for the body to glide at high speeds and maintain control of the body, but also to jump and over the corner." After the race, Xu Mingfu admitted that when he first stood on the downhill track, 60% of his heart was afraid. "But slowly, practicing that fear is gone, just thinking that I'm going to spell it out, I'm going to stand on the field of the Winter Olympics, we have to take this step."
The breakthrough in the men's downhill arena has made a good start for the Winter Olympic journey of the Chinese alpine ski team. On the afternoon of February 8, the good news came from the men's super slalom field, Zhang Yangming successfully finished the race in 1 minute 29.39 seconds and ranked 33rd, and the winter Olympic alpine skiing men's super giant slalom report card has since given the name of a Chinese player.
On February 10, Zhang Yangming and Xu Mingfu successfully completed the alpine skiing men's all-around competition, ranking 16th and 17th in the total results. The consecutive competitions tested the physical fitness of the two players, but when they stood on the field, they did their best to fill another page of alpine skiing in China.
Tenacious struggle perseverance
In the alpine skiing men's event, Zhang Yangming and Xu Mingfu were not afraid of challenges and broke through themselves. In the women's event, Kong Fanying and Ni Yueming were also tenacious and persevering, showing the positive and upward fighting spirit of Chinese alpine skiers.
In the women's super giant slalom competition held on February 11, Ni Yueming and Kong Fanying successfully completed the competition, winning the 40th and 41st places respectively, which is the first set of numbers written by Chinese athletes on the curriculum vitae of the women's super slalom at the Winter Olympics.
Super big slalom and downhill are both speed-type events, compared with the two technical sports of slalom and big slalom, the super big slalom track is longer, the slope is steeper, the flag door spacing is larger, the athlete's gliding speed is relatively faster, and the risk is greater than that of the skill project.
"I was always nervous before the start of the game, but when I stood on the field, my emotions were instantly empty, and I only told myself to paddle hard and paddle with all my strength." Ni Yueming said that his energy on the track has been concentrated to see the traces left by the front runners, "After the departure, I can only see the flag gate, I told myself to work hard to paddle, release all the energy, can beat myself is the best, successful completion of the race is of great significance to me." ”
After completing the slide, Kong Fanying and Ni Yueming's smiles were particularly bright, and just two months ago, they were in Austria to qualify for the super big slalom, and even anxious because of the temporary cancellation of several points races. From late August to November last year, Ni Yueming and Kong Fanying followed the team to train outside the snow field in Sölden, Austria, while preparing to participate in various Olympic points competitions to impact the qualification for the super slalom and slide. Because the conditions of the summer snow field cannot meet the requirements of all-day training, they have to get up at 4 o'clock every day, rush from the 1400-meter altitude station to the glacier snow field at 3200 meters above sea level to train, and complete the day's training content before 10 o'clock. The sunrise over the snow field is beautiful, but Kong Fanying and Ni Yueming rarely have time to appreciate it, just to seize the time to practice a few more times. "At that time, I didn't have the heart to watch the sunrise, the training time was precious, I just wanted to ski a few more trips in a hurry, and if I had the opportunity to go again in the future, I wanted to enjoy the sunrise scenery." After completing the super big slalom game, Ni Yueming said.
For Chinese alpine skiers, the preparation process of competing for Olympic points is more difficult than feeling the limits of speed and difficulty in "Xuefeiyan". In order to achieve full-project participation, the Chinese alpine ski team with a weak foundation and scarce talents can only select athletes from technical projects to participate in speed-type events. Since 2017, Athletes such as Zhang Yangming, Xu Mingfu, Kong Fanying, and Ni Yueming, who were originally specialized in technical sports, have begun to "rush speed". After the concurrent event, Xu Mingfu had broken his shoulder bone, Zhang Yangming had broken his leg, and Kong Fanying still remembered the worst time he practiced the speed project. "People fell outside the track net, the injury and bleeding, I sat on the slope and cried for half a day, and then when I slowed down, I got up and skated on my own, and I couldn't give up halfway." Kong Fanying said that he was really scared at first, because he had never slid so fast. When the women's downhill competition at the Beijing Winter Olympics was successfully completed, Kong Fanying gave himself a heart to the camera, "I think I'm really amazing!" I haven't fought in vain in the past few years! ”
Closing the gap spells out
After the Beijing Winter Olympics, Kong Fanying had an extra "nickname" - "labor model". She not only spelled out 6 finishes, but also created the best result in the history of China's alpine skiing winter Olympics. On February 17, Kong Fanying finished in the women's all-around event of alpine skiing with a total time of 2:47.68, ranking 15th, which is also the highest single ranking of the Chinese alpine ski team at the Winter Olympic Games.
"I'm going to slide down, I'm going to finish, I'm going to have the name of the Chinese player on the report card for this project." On February 17, Kong Fanying told reporters after completing the women's all-around alpine skiing competition at the Beijing Winter Olympics that it was a belief that encouraged her to rush to the finish line and encouraged her to go all out in every game in the "full attendance", and spell out the results in each game. For the 15th place in the women's all-around, Kong Fanying admitted that he was very lucky: "Although there is a gap with the top players in terms of strength, I am very satisfied to be able to show my best self on the field. But Kong Fanying believes that all this is just the starting point, "I believe that China's alpine skiing will definitely create better results in the future." ”
The Beijing Winter Olympics alpine skiing event is intensive, and the "full-event participation" extremely tests the physical fitness of athletes, so even top athletes will focus on the two speed events of downhill and super big slalom, or focus on the two technical sports of slalom and big slalom, and the situation of "full attendance" like Kong Fanying is very rare. In this Winter Olympic Alpine Skiing Competition, like Kong Fanying, who has reached "full attendance", in addition to Zhang Yangming and Xu Mingfu, only the American Michaela Shivlin.
From the first day of the women's big slalom competition to the completion of the women's all-around competition, every day's competition and training are infinitely approaching Kong Fanying's physical limit, but Kong Fanying spelled out the results in every game. "Whenever I feel that I have reached the limit and feel that I have no energy, I have a belief in my heart that I have survived the most difficult level of qualification, and when I get to the field, I must persevere, and I will strive to show my best self in the Winter Olympic Games." Kong Fanying said that in the preparation stage, he and his teammates went through many setbacks to spell out the winter Olympic tickets for the downhill, super big slalom and all-around events. "Standing on the field of the Winter Olympic Games, only by doing our best can we be worthy of the efforts and efforts of the past four years."
On February 20, the last competition day of alpine skiing at the Beijing Winter Olympics, Zhang Yangming, Xu Mingfu, Kong Fanying and Ni Yueming represented the Chinese team for the first time in the field of the mixed alpine skiing team competition at the Winter Olympics. Although they lost to Switzerland in the 1/8 match, they won warm applause from the audience after the match. In the face of the more experienced Swiss athletes, the Chinese alpine skiers did not give up the game when their technology and overall strength were backward, and in the case of the opponent's leading strength, they did not fear and showed their best level on the field.
"Although the results are not ideal, everyone has worked hard to play the level of training, and this is enough." After the game, Kong Fanying scored a passing score for the performance of himself and his teammates, "Alpine skiing project has to come little by little, we have to face up to the gap in level, the opponent is indeed much stronger than us in strength and technology, but in the field can not give up the challenge of self, stand on the field not only fight with the opponent, but also fight with themselves, can fight to win is a victory." All four of us have done our best in this race, and we skated the momentum of Chinese athletes on the track in front of our homes. ”
Kong Fanying believes that the future of alpine skiing in China will definitely get better and better. In her view, the Beijing Winter Olympics will not only provide an opportunity for China's alpine skiing to achieve a breakthrough, but also provide a strong impetus for the sustainable development of the project. "'Driving 300 million people to participate in ice and snow sports' will certainly cultivate a large number of reserve talents for ice and snow projects, and the Winter Olympics have also left the world's top track for China, which can not only provide training venues, but also hold top events in the future, increasing our opportunities to communicate with the world's top players." There is still a huge gap between us and the world's top players, and if we want to catch up, we are destined to have a long way to go, but I believe that as long as we don't give up and keep fighting, there will always be a day to catch up. ”
Photo from Xinhua News Agency